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With only hours to live, a death-row inmate fights to free a chimpanzee from medical captivity
New York City 2024
WORLD PREMIERE
Desperate for a pardon from execution, a convicted murderer spends his last minutes reenacting a sensational court trial from his cell in solitary confinement. Arguing against a pharmaceutical company (his former employer) to release one of its laboratory chimps from medical experimentation, the prisoner gives damming evidence of a predatory system that sees most of us as expendable.
Writer/director/performer Kevin Augustine invites audience members into a theatrical empathy experiment, asking them to help bring his primate puppets to life on stage. He also weaves his own personal story of loss into the play, revealing how trauma and isolation reshapes the soul of both humans and animals.
"The People vs. Nature is a richly imagined and vividly realized exploration of the limits and possibilities of rethinking our relationship with other animals, and in finding common bonds between us through trauma and redemption. By engaging the audience in shaping how we respond to the puppets, The People vs. Nature shows us that compassion is not an abstraction but a literally hands-on commitment. The Culture & Animals Foundation is delighted to have sponsored this telling drama of an individual's vision of liberation for all encaged beings."—Martin Rowe, Executive Director, Culture & Animals Foundation
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